The Sea of Stars

Gods

List of DivinitiesAthena is probably the most active god, having personally fought in most major conflicts that affected her shard. She currently works with the oligarchs, but accepts her direct intervention undermines their power. Lives on Star Tower now, and accepts petitions for those wishing her divine blessing, as well as being the scariest weapon the oligarchs can wield. Lawful Good.Gruumsh Like Athena, a personally very active god, Gruumsh extended many conflicts by his presence, and often led doomed groups of soldiers, allowing them to do insane amounts of damage. He is hated by the orcs, the race he himself saved, as they view him as leading to the destruction of civilization on their shard multiple times, and using them as shock troopers. He served almost 2000 years imprisoned in Star Tower, however a bargain was struck for his release to help defeat the dragon tyrants. Currently lives on Star Tower, and attracts some followers. Has an extreme enmity with Athena, as the two have clashed on battlefields countless times.Lolth (goddess of Dro’Daen, goddess of spiders and the drow), lives on Dro’Daen, at the ‘heart’ of the webs. Lolth generally allows her ‘children’ to make whatever choices they want, and encourages them to always seek to advantage themselves, even rewarding their own games of power with each other. Lolth wished for her children not to join The Kingdoms, but the drow decided to, and she respected that right to choose. She imposes a matriarchy, and has been known to personally stalk men who she sees as trying to elevate themselves above her priesthood.The Lady (goddess of luck), not a public figure, very mysterious, talked about in hushed voices.The Bone Man (God of the Awlings), wanders The Awlings, joins the carnival every year, but otherwise is a bit hard to track down. Skeleton in a long coat worn open to show the bones, and wearing a top hat, carrying a cane.The Green Man left (his shard) to live in the fey, appears on lots of worlds, but still has an attachment to his home, and often tries to make himself available to people.JanusZhent, god of wealth – the ruler of his shard, although sits back most of the time and allows the merchants to run the situation. Uses his divine powers to help ease trade with other shards.The Entity The god of Zhent, believed by the people of its land to be far greater than the other gods, as indicated by the fact that he was able to save a larger shard of the world that was.

List of other figures of worship
Demon Princes
Fey Lords and Ladies
– Prince Spring
– King Summer
– Princess Autumn
– Queen Winter
Landoch, the Bard (though most true bards (able to magic) do not worship them)
The Angelic Host (not affiliated with any divinities, pursue a mission of the ideal of ‘justice’ across the astral sea)
Tiamat
Shade
9 lords of hell
Various Folk Heroes
Braddock, the ascendant (once a wizard, now a myth)
Shen Hwei, the ascendant (once a monk, now a myth)
The Gods Beyond
Cult of Ragnarok (believes saving parts of the world was wrong)
Cult of the Old World (believes that the old world and cosmos should be restored)

Excerpt from Landoch’s ‘Meeting of the Gods’

The world had trembled four by four times and all knew it would not last another shock to it. The gods sat among the heavens, and most made do with laments to all that would be lost among their palaces of stars.

It was one of the youngest, who had once lived below, unaware of his true nature, that stood up and made a plea. The heavens would not fall, and though the gods would retreat to their own place of resting, the stars would endure. Instead of letting all things end, let those of worth be saved, and placed among the heavens to life anew.

All understood what it would cost, and most refused. Still, some very few agreed, and found that which was most precious to them in the world, whether a lover, a temple, or a whole land, and lifted it into the heavens.

Yet each deity who chose to do so ensured he would never pass to the beyond of which the rest would reach, and instead those gods bound themselves to this terrible half-world they had created. While all had been strong of heart, they found once the act was done a host of new sensations. When omniscience is stripped, it is hard to frame how much doubt takes its place, and the gods in those days had approached omniscience.

So it was that, after the end, in a place that no mortal has visited, nor shall until all the stars are dark, all gods met, to talk of where they might find themselves a place among the saved.

Excerpt from ‘The Lives of the Gods’, by Allema Dressic

Introduction:
The list of gods presented here is one that some may argue is truncated, and claim the ignorance of the writer, and the unsuitability of the text as a whole. I assure you most vehemently that this is not the case, and in each case, a so-called ‘god’ has been excluded with deliberate care after ensuring the facts of the matter.

We find ourselves at an awkward point in history, as the title ‘god’, which might once have been reserved only for those beings who saved a portion of the former realm from Ragnarok, and has been instead expanded out to many other beings, including powerful fey spirits, demons, dragons, and in some truly bizarre cases what seem to be figments of imagination.

While I have already mentioned the main quality of a god, to which I have adapted the term ‘divinity’ as a delineator even from other beings of power, in that they saved a shard, there are several other properties that have proven unique to these divinities.

Firstly, the being must have existed before the Ragnarok.
Secondly, the being must be responsible for the creation of a shard, whether one of the kingdoms or elsewhere.
Thirdly, the being must be capable of imbuing divine gifts upon those they choose.

Beyond this, a divinity need have nothing in common with any other.

One point that should be made is that while it is speculated that some demons may meet the first criteria, and possibly even the second, demons are incapable of imbuing a subject with divine magic. While the creation of those mongrel warlocks is indeed often a granting of power, this power is only arcane in nature, and also seems to require more of an investiture of power by the demon, or the imparting of knowledge.

There are a further set of qualities that, while they are not essential to the question of divinity, are common enough among the divine to be worth mentioning. The divinities all seem to be ageless and unkillable, and if any were otherwise there is no solid evidence to back this up. The also all hold a wealth of divine power that is immense, able to rival the greatest archmages in history and legend, although they are not impossible to overcome. Finally, all divinities take a pleasure in cultivating followers, and almost all profess a single ideal, or in some cases a list of rules for living that forms the heart of a religion.

Once again, I must state that just because something is a religion, or even that there is an object or person of worship, does not mean that there is anything of a divinity. It is well documented that those devoted to causes are capable of gaining or learning divine magic, without direct intervention of a divinity or god.